Remembering

Tonight I attended Jonna Buell's memorial service in the University Church. It was beautiful and inspiring. To read my complete review of the service, click here.

Homeward Bound

These are my favourite mountains on the way to my parents' house. They are the Elkhorn Mountains, just west of Baker, Ore. We got to see them today on our way home from spending Thanksgiving with my family in Boise. Beautiful!

Family Portrait

This afternoon, since we were dressed up for church, I thought it might be nice to get a family picture. Of course, Kayla wouldn't smile for any of them, and looked at the camera for maybe two out of 25 shots. But here's one of our attempts...not the best, but not terrible!

Welcome, Christmas!

It's tradition at the Sevison household to put up the tree and decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Usually we sleep in and spend the morning and early afternoon doing just that. This year we couldn't get everyone together until evening, so it was dark when we did the tree. That actually made it fun, because the lights looked really warm and holiday-ish. Morgan did a great job helping put the ornaments on the tree, and Kayla enjoyed watching. All three grandchildren are actually in this picture with Rachel...look closely!

Morgan was very proud of her decorating abilities. This year we used my mom's Frosty Friends series (she's been collecting them since they began in the late 70s) and homemade snowflake ornaments. The tree looks beautiful with its all-white lights and gold bead garland.

Thanksgiving 2009

My mom makes the best Thanksgiving table. Simple, elegant, beautiful. This year was no exception.

Our friends the McHutchisons joined us this year. Tara (pictured here) has been my best friend since we were 8 years old. We went to school together throughout elementary and high school, and two quarters of college. During those two quarters we were also roommates. She and her husband, Ben, were in town for the holiday, so they were able to join her family at my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time any of them had met Kayla.

After the meal, Ben decided to see what would happen to a candy pumpkin when placed in a carbonated beverage. I'm not sure why. But he tried it...in Tara's sparkling cider. It grew bubbles all around it and started letting off little air bubbles, too. It looked pretty cool, actually!

A wonderfully fun day. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Arrived

We drove to Boise today to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Raina really enjoys my parents' house because they have nice big windows that get a lot of sun. She took full advantage of it when we got here and she finally settled down. I'm sure it was a nice change from being cooped up in the back of the Highlander for five hours.

"What'cha Doin', Mommy?"

Jason and Kayla came to hang out with me at work today. The power went out at home and he couldn't heat her bottle, and no one else was at the office, so they came and had lunch, talked, and hung out for a couple of hours while I worked. During lunch we put Kayla on her tummy and I couldn't help but take a picture, because it reminded me of a picture of my mom when she was 3 months old. (See below.)